I haven’t been active with my photography for over 4 months now. One thing led to another and before I knew it months had passed and my camera remained untouched. Yesterday my son brought in something he had made out of Lego (below). That inspired me to get back to the camera and shoot off a few pictures, just to get back in the frame of mind. Hopefully, with spring here I can discover the joys of photography for 2016!

The Imperial War Museum in Duxford has a fantastically preserved German V1 flying bomb dating back to 1944-1945. The V1 is one of the earliest weapons to use a pulsejet engine. With an effective range of 160 miles over 9000 of these were launched at the United Kingdom between June and October 1944 till their launch sites were overrun by Allied advances.

The above photo is a composite of 3 shots bracketed at -2, 0 and 2 eV and merged in Photomatix Pro.

The Hawker Hurricane was the workhorse fighter plane in the Battle of Britain. This particular plane on display at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, England was recovered from a crash site in Russia in 1941.

The Hurricane the first single-seat 8-gun monoplane fighter that entered service in 1937. In 1940, Hurricanes shot down more enemy aircraft that all the other defences combined. Source: IWM, Duxford.

My workplace is also home to a wetland habitat. The wild grassland bordering is a haven for moths, butterflies and damselflies that thrive on the plentiful thistles. I find them especially beautiful when they set winged soft silky winged seeds ready to be blown by the gentlest breeze.

Thistle seed heads. Click on the photo for more viewing options on Flickr

Autumn 2015 has been particularly great for roses here in Cambridge. My garden was full of roses in their second blooming flush this year and some are still in bloom (in November). This particular english rose has heavy blooms that almost bend the thin branches to the ground.

This photograph has a natural black background generated by the use of a off-camera slave flash at right angles combined with a small aperture f/11 and exposure time of 1/250. Click on the photo for options to view this in larger size on Flickr.